


Thereafter

by maxbegone



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: After Vox Machina, F/M, Post-Canon, Post-Finale, Post-Vecna, Vaxleth - Freeform, keyleth’s life after vax’s passing years after vecna, vox machina - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 11:10:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13456986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maxbegone/pseuds/maxbegone
Summary: She meets him a century and a half after Vecna. Twelve years after Grog had passed, five after Vex, and too many after Percy.-A tale of Keyleth’s love and life many years after the fall of Vecna.





	Thereafter

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr
> 
> maxbegone.tumblr.com

She meets him a century and a half after Vecna. Twelve years after Grog had passed, five after Vex, and too many after Percy.

Pike was getting up there in her years, so was Scanlan, but the three of them as well as their families were going strong. Traveling when they could, Keyleth making sure that the tale of their family continued to live.

She meets him during a trip to Marquet. He’s not native, if the light-olive skin tone is anything to go by. He’s taller than her by an inch, has dusty shoulder-length hair that is pulled away from his face with gentle brown eyes wrinkled at the corners. He’s elven.

Her heart thuds with both hope and sadness the first time they speak.

“I am Edrahn,” he greets her with an extended hand and warm smile. “Hailing from Wildmount.”

Keyleth learns that he grew up helping in his father’s forge, that he has a sister six years his senior, and that he followed in his mother’s footsteps and became a healer for their small town.

She doesn’t let herself attach herself so quickly, feeling as if she’d betray Vax or Vex somehow though she knows that is far from the truth. But Keyleth allows herself to keep in contact with Edrahn for a long time before courting, and from there a good long year before finally letting herself completely break down that wall.

He doesn’t mind that she is the Voice of the Tempest and leader of her people, Savior of Emon, part of Vox Machina and all those grandiose titles. He cares about Keyleth. He cares about her happiness, she learns, and he cares that she’s afraid to fall in love again after Vax.

“I’m not him,” he whispers to her one day while they walk the perimeter of Zephrah. “And I don’t want you to think I’m replacing him. But allow yourself to love again, Keyleth. From what you’ve told me, it is what he’d want of you.”

She kisses him, then and there. She was so afraid to before, but something broke and now she was kissing him with a mix of melancholy and happiness as the breeze blows around them.

It’s unfortunate timing. Pike passes just weeks shy of the wedding. Scanlan is sad, it’s understandable, but his daughters are beside the old gnome as he sits front row alongside empty seats for their passed family and surrounded by the family that is still with them.

Keyleth walks down the aisle to the Sun Tree with her ever-aging father, Korren with tears in his eyes. As she does, a flock of ravens fly overhead, one stopping briefly to land on her shoulder, only leaving once her hand is in Edrahn’s. She smiles so wide it is close to splitting her face in half. That was enough confirmation for her.

They spend several years just the two of them, enjoying their company and traveling as much as they can. Scanlan passes years and years after the wedding, at age five hundred and forty-nine.

Children was not a taboo topic, but it takes a long time for them to agree that they are ready. And it proves to be much more difficult than either had expected. But, eventually, Keyleth welcomes a daughter, Shannah, who is tiny and pink with firey red hair to match her own, and her husband’s soft eyes.

Edrahn, when she looks over, has tears in his eyes and his usual loving smile that he greets her with whenever she walks into the room. On the windowsill in her chambers, Keyleth sees the raven that is always somewhere, and she smiles again.

Their daughter grows to be a strong and powerful druid with hopes of bettering the world. And for that alone, Keyleth is proud.

**Author's Note:**

> Stop over and say hello! maxbegone.tumblr.com!


End file.
